New Smyrna Beach may reinstate impact fees for business development

Friday

Aug 30, 2013 at 8:33 PMAug 30, 2013 at 8:40 PM

By Richard Connrichard.conn@news-jrnl.com

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — Impact fees for commercial construction, suspended since 2011 in hopes of sparking economic development, could be reinstated next year. That will likely be the recommendation of city staff given a new wave of commercial development, especially along State Road 44. The decision will ultimately be up to the City Commission, whose members could consider lifting the moratorium on impact fees for police and fire services, and transportation as soon as October. “At this point right now it would be our recommendation,” City Manager Pam Brangaccio said. “I don’t think it would hinder the continued development on State Road 44.”City commissioners voted in January to extend the suspension of impact fees for all non-residential construction. To qualify, a building permit for the project has to be issued by Dec. 31, 2013, and construction completed by Dec. 13, 2014. According to city documents, eight businesses received waivers from impact fees over 2011 and 2012. The biggest beneficiary was the Hampton Inn on Flagler Avenue, which would have been charged $83,089 in transportation impact fees and a combined $85,817 for both police and fire impact fees. In total, the city has waived $196,827 in transportation impact fees and a combined $85,817 in police and fire impact fees during those two years. Brangaccio said those monies could be used for needed road improvements and other capital projects. “The needs are there,” she said. “The needs are starting to rise.”Much of the city’s booming commercial growth is on S.R. 44. A McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts and ABC Fine Wine and Spirits are among businesses that have followed the arrival of a Walmart Supercenter in November 2011. Mullinax Ford is moving from its current location on U.S. 1 to the north side of S.R. 44, east of Colony Park and west of Jungle Road.While the impact fees may be restored beginning next year, city officials have discussed whether incentives could be offered for targeted industries, such as aviation, that provide higher-paying jobs that either expand or locate in the city, said Tony Otte, the city’s economic development director. “That’s not something that’s been proposed,” Otte said. “That’s just something we were talking about as staff.”In July, the Edgewater City Council voted to extend impact fee breaks for businesses for another year.